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The Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years War is the key issue of early modern history, the core of the 'General Crisis' of the seventeenth century. In this book Parker brings together a team of leading scholars to cover the massive body of source material.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1984
41 people are currently reading
613 people want to read
About the author
Geoffrey Parker
98 books171 followersGeoffrey Parker is Andreas Dorpalen Professor of European History and an Associate of the Mershon Center at The Ohio State University. He has published widely on the social, political and military history of early modern Europe, and in 2012 the Royal Dutch Academy recognized these achievements by awarding him its biennial Heineken Foundation Prize for History, open to scholars in any field, and any period, from any country.
Parker has written or co-written thirty-nine books, including The Military Revolution: Military innovation and the rise of the West, 1500-1800 (Cambridge University Press, 1988), winner of the 'best book prize' from both the American Military Institute and the Society for the History of Technology; The Grand Strategy of Philip II (Yale University Press, 1998), which won the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize from the Society of Military History; and Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century (Yale University Press, 2013), which won the Society of Military History’s Distinguished Book Prize and also one of the three medals awarded in 2014 by the British Academy for ‘a landmark academic achievement… which has transformed understanding of a particular subject’.
Before moving to Ohio State in 1997, Parker taught at Cambridge and St Andrews universities in Britain, at the University of British Columbia in Canada, and at Illinois and Yale Universities in the United States, teaching courses on the Reformation, European history and military history at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He has directed or co-directed over thirty Doctoral Dissertations to completion, as well as several undergraduate theses. In 2006 he won an OSU Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award.
He lives in Columbus, Ohio, and has four children. In 1987 he was diagnosed as having Multiple Sclerosis. His latest book is Imprudent King: A New Life of Philip II (Yale University Press, 2014).
Parker has written or co-written thirty-nine books, including The Military Revolution: Military innovation and the rise of the West, 1500-1800 (Cambridge University Press, 1988), winner of the 'best book prize' from both the American Military Institute and the Society for the History of Technology; The Grand Strategy of Philip II (Yale University Press, 1998), which won the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize from the Society of Military History; and Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century (Yale University Press, 2013), which won the Society of Military History’s Distinguished Book Prize and also one of the three medals awarded in 2014 by the British Academy for ‘a landmark academic achievement… which has transformed understanding of a particular subject’.
Before moving to Ohio State in 1997, Parker taught at Cambridge and St Andrews universities in Britain, at the University of British Columbia in Canada, and at Illinois and Yale Universities in the United States, teaching courses on the Reformation, European history and military history at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He has directed or co-directed over thirty Doctoral Dissertations to completion, as well as several undergraduate theses. In 2006 he won an OSU Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award.
He lives in Columbus, Ohio, and has four children. In 1987 he was diagnosed as having Multiple Sclerosis. His latest book is Imprudent King: A New Life of Philip II (Yale University Press, 2014).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
March 6, 2019
I’m in a quandary about what rating this book deserves. On one hand, it’s an excellent academic treatment of the Thirty Years War. On the other hand, it fails as a narrative history. In this review, I’ll look at the book’s strengths and weaknesses which will hopefully help you decide whether or not you should read this book.
Let’s start with the positives. As a source of information, Parker’s The Thirty Years War undoubtedly excels. It’s clear that a huge amount of research went into this book. The back of this book is a wealth of notes and sources, most notably including an exhaustive list of other books to read about the Thirty Years War.
Also of interest and great help to the reader are the detailed chronology, collection of 24 black and white plates, and a set of four excellent maps. I’m sure the maps will be invaluable to all readers. Luckily, I have recently read plenty of books about central Europe and was thus familiar with the names and locations of the major German principalities. If I wasn’t familiar with the states, however, I would have used referenced the maps a lot more.
Probably the strongest aspect of the book is its balanced and objective view of the conflict. Starting with a look at the causes and background, the text briefly covers both minor and major theaters in all phases of the war. Attention is given to the foreign powers involved, but the German states and Hapsburg Empire are not ignored either.
Unfortunately, the density of information simply makes reading this book a difficult task. It’s quite possibly the densest book I’ve ever read. I soon realized that if I was going to have any hope of understanding what I was reading, then I would have to devote my whole focus to the book. Even so, I often found myself having to reread an entire paragraph or page because my attention had lapsed, and I found myself unaware of what I had just read. The actual narrative is only 202 pages long – a very small amount of space to cover an event as complex and confusing as the Thirty Years War.
There are many names and places to keep track of, and there is no elaboration on the personalities which could aid the reader in remembering who is who. The narrative is simply a string of events woven together with analysis. With the exception of the conclusion, there is no attention given to the human elements of this conflict which make it of enduring interest. Particularly disappointing for me was how little time was spent on the military aspect. No battle was given more space than a few sentences (most were dealt with in a couple words), and while I understand why this was so, it was consistently frustrating. Aside from a page or two in the conclusion, there was no information about tactics either.
So, how to evaluate this book? After reading it, I do feel like I have a better understanding of the Thirty Years War. That must be seen as a point in favor for the book. I also must give Parker and the other contributors credit for covering such a large amount of material in such a small space. However, the dry nature of the prose combined with the dense content makes this book quite a task to read.
Ultimately, whether or not this book is right for you depends on what you’re looking for. If you want an interesting narrative history, do yourself a favor and look elsewhere. If you’re seriously interested in the Thirty Years War and want to learn more, I’m sure you’ll find this book to be quite valuable.
Let’s start with the positives. As a source of information, Parker’s The Thirty Years War undoubtedly excels. It’s clear that a huge amount of research went into this book. The back of this book is a wealth of notes and sources, most notably including an exhaustive list of other books to read about the Thirty Years War.
Also of interest and great help to the reader are the detailed chronology, collection of 24 black and white plates, and a set of four excellent maps. I’m sure the maps will be invaluable to all readers. Luckily, I have recently read plenty of books about central Europe and was thus familiar with the names and locations of the major German principalities. If I wasn’t familiar with the states, however, I would have used referenced the maps a lot more.
Probably the strongest aspect of the book is its balanced and objective view of the conflict. Starting with a look at the causes and background, the text briefly covers both minor and major theaters in all phases of the war. Attention is given to the foreign powers involved, but the German states and Hapsburg Empire are not ignored either.
Unfortunately, the density of information simply makes reading this book a difficult task. It’s quite possibly the densest book I’ve ever read. I soon realized that if I was going to have any hope of understanding what I was reading, then I would have to devote my whole focus to the book. Even so, I often found myself having to reread an entire paragraph or page because my attention had lapsed, and I found myself unaware of what I had just read. The actual narrative is only 202 pages long – a very small amount of space to cover an event as complex and confusing as the Thirty Years War.
There are many names and places to keep track of, and there is no elaboration on the personalities which could aid the reader in remembering who is who. The narrative is simply a string of events woven together with analysis. With the exception of the conclusion, there is no attention given to the human elements of this conflict which make it of enduring interest. Particularly disappointing for me was how little time was spent on the military aspect. No battle was given more space than a few sentences (most were dealt with in a couple words), and while I understand why this was so, it was consistently frustrating. Aside from a page or two in the conclusion, there was no information about tactics either.
So, how to evaluate this book? After reading it, I do feel like I have a better understanding of the Thirty Years War. That must be seen as a point in favor for the book. I also must give Parker and the other contributors credit for covering such a large amount of material in such a small space. However, the dry nature of the prose combined with the dense content makes this book quite a task to read.
Ultimately, whether or not this book is right for you depends on what you’re looking for. If you want an interesting narrative history, do yourself a favor and look elsewhere. If you’re seriously interested in the Thirty Years War and want to learn more, I’m sure you’ll find this book to be quite valuable.
November 28, 2017
What a great book! Had been told it's a classic, now I know why. Parker and his team manage to tell the story of a war that sprawled all over Europe without losing the reader's interest or sanity. We follow the war from its roots deep in the Holy Roman Empire to the Bohemian phase, the Danish Phase, The Swedish Phase, and then ultimately the French Phase. As each phase develops, we get the causes, the means found to pay for the phase- and then the actions and results. Instead of a incomprehensible morass of names and dates, we get a reasoned approach. Parker chooses the best way to tell this tale, which is to follow the money. For each event, there are grievances that cause it, actors who want to move the plot along- and most importantly, the means found by which the soldiery would be paid. In this telling, the religious elements, previously the most difficult for a non-Christian to divine, are usually secondary to the economic, more easily understood. But nothing is left out either. Those that want to see this as a largely religious struggle will find both support and contrary evidence. The war was long, large ad complex, but it's effect on the rest of German History is also immense. This book will do much to explain the inexplicable. Junior readers will need a map at hand, but will find the effort rewarded. For the Military Enthusiast/Modeller/Wargamer, this is required reading, but largely on background. Only a mild improvement in Diorama/Scenarios will result- but you might finally understand the events, too.....
October 20, 2018
This is a good example of schoolbook history, just names, dates, places, never a narrative. Some place is besieged and then it's over. No description or discussion of anything except who was leading each side. Exceedingly boring. On the positive side, great maps, pictures and timeline. Need some toothpicks to prop the eyelids open. 1 Star
September 1, 2011
My colleague said it best: "It's like reading a 200 page encyclopedia entry." Parker's book is a detail-heavy political history. Though he does his best to outline this complicated European conflict, it's not without problems; I was especially bothered by the jumpy chronology. The Wikipedia page is a fine substitute for this book, though I would recommend the last chapter of Parker's book, which does have an interesting argument about why the conflict endured as long as it did.
May 16, 2014
Significant battles and political movements. Religious strife and great powers being sucked in with no exit plan. Players rise and fall from defeat, death, or both. The fighting continued until the financial deadlock struck them all.
The Thirty Years was lays the groundwork for understanding Europe prior to the Napoleonic Era. This book is a great overview (I stress overview) of the climactic struggle known as the Thirty Years War. While lacking in detail, the book does a fairly good job of discussing the high points and the significant players. Very little discussion is spent on those nations that had very little (my opinion) to do with the struggle (England and the Ottoman Empire). Yet during some of the discussions, the book went into a very detailed description to back up the text. The mixture of high level discussion with a sprinkling of extensive detail was a bit confusing but welcome. Overall, I gave the read four stars and recommend this book as a starter for understanding of the Thirty Years War.
The Thirty Years was lays the groundwork for understanding Europe prior to the Napoleonic Era. This book is a great overview (I stress overview) of the climactic struggle known as the Thirty Years War. While lacking in detail, the book does a fairly good job of discussing the high points and the significant players. Very little discussion is spent on those nations that had very little (my opinion) to do with the struggle (England and the Ottoman Empire). Yet during some of the discussions, the book went into a very detailed description to back up the text. The mixture of high level discussion with a sprinkling of extensive detail was a bit confusing but welcome. Overall, I gave the read four stars and recommend this book as a starter for understanding of the Thirty Years War.
February 17, 2025
Throughout the long, bloody history of warfare in Western civilization, perhaps no conflict is more poorly understood or clearly recounted as that of the Thirty Years’ War: 1618-1648. The war involved either directly(many) or indirectly(nearly all) political entities of the time, whether identified as sovereign, independent nations, or smaller, dependent nation-states. Often cast as a religiously motivated conflict of Catholic versus Protestant, which itself is misleading and inaccurate. Lutheran and Calvinist forces fought one another. Staunchly Roman Catholic titans faced off on the battlefields. Coalitions of armies combined of nearly every side squared off against equally enmeshed Catholic and Protestant forces.
The Holy Roman Empire was surely at the center of the war. However, even the papacy from Rome offered only tepid support to the Habsburgs during the decades of war. Germany(or the general geographical region we now identify as the modern nation of Germany) largely served as the field of conflict. Yet, France, Spain, Austria-Hungary, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Poland, England, Scotland, Transylvania, and Ottoman Turkey, among others fielded armies in the course of the war.
Geoffrey Parker is the lead author, but this was a collaborative writing effort. The group admirably takes a hugely confusing and widespread(both in geography and time) period and distills it down into a generally understandable outline of the key aspects of the war. By the team the Peace of Westphalia was signed by the participants in 1648, there had been numerous changes of allegiance during the years of conflict. The German countryside had been ravaged by warfare, disease, and economic disruption for decades. The writing style is what I would term “stuffy” and academic. But, considering it was written in the 1980’s, that would be expected. Otherwise, it is a fairly concise account of a hugely influential, yet little known or understood episode of European history.
The Holy Roman Empire was surely at the center of the war. However, even the papacy from Rome offered only tepid support to the Habsburgs during the decades of war. Germany(or the general geographical region we now identify as the modern nation of Germany) largely served as the field of conflict. Yet, France, Spain, Austria-Hungary, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Poland, England, Scotland, Transylvania, and Ottoman Turkey, among others fielded armies in the course of the war.
Geoffrey Parker is the lead author, but this was a collaborative writing effort. The group admirably takes a hugely confusing and widespread(both in geography and time) period and distills it down into a generally understandable outline of the key aspects of the war. By the team the Peace of Westphalia was signed by the participants in 1648, there had been numerous changes of allegiance during the years of conflict. The German countryside had been ravaged by warfare, disease, and economic disruption for decades. The writing style is what I would term “stuffy” and academic. But, considering it was written in the 1980’s, that would be expected. Otherwise, it is a fairly concise account of a hugely influential, yet little known or understood episode of European history.
February 2, 2022
I first bought this volume from Borders about two decades back. I had just finished C.V. Wedgwood's narrative history on the war then. Somehow, life overtook me and I only returned to it last year. In the intervening years, I had read the masterly "Europe's Tragedy" by Peter H. Wilson.
This volume is considered the modern seminal volume on the Thirty Years' War for some decades now. It is based on modern scholarship. The volume written and edited by Geoffrey Parker also has contributions of various specialists in the field. It is divided into six sections, the first of which described the political and religious scene of Europe in 1555 to 1618. The second section analyses the war for Bohemia, Europe and the Palatine war and finally the failure of the Danish intervention. The third section is that of the victorious Habsburgs and their policies from 1621 to 1629. The descent into total war from 1630 with the Swedish intervention from 1630 to 1635 forms the next section. The penultimate section describes the war weary's parties attempts to break the deadlock and the making of peace with the Habsburg's defeat. The final section is that of an analysis of the war in myth, legend and history.
Note. This is an academic study. It is heavy with facts and analysis and is not a popular narrative history for the layman. Read only if you are already familiar with the chronology of events and also the root causes. Otherwise, it is not for the faint of heart.
This volume is considered the modern seminal volume on the Thirty Years' War for some decades now. It is based on modern scholarship. The volume written and edited by Geoffrey Parker also has contributions of various specialists in the field. It is divided into six sections, the first of which described the political and religious scene of Europe in 1555 to 1618. The second section analyses the war for Bohemia, Europe and the Palatine war and finally the failure of the Danish intervention. The third section is that of the victorious Habsburgs and their policies from 1621 to 1629. The descent into total war from 1630 with the Swedish intervention from 1630 to 1635 forms the next section. The penultimate section describes the war weary's parties attempts to break the deadlock and the making of peace with the Habsburg's defeat. The final section is that of an analysis of the war in myth, legend and history.
Note. This is an academic study. It is heavy with facts and analysis and is not a popular narrative history for the layman. Read only if you are already familiar with the chronology of events and also the root causes. Otherwise, it is not for the faint of heart.
Read
November 14, 2021The second major work on the Thirty Years War I ever read, Geoffrey Parker's book has advantages over the first in that, written later, it could incorporate reams of more up-to-date research into this most complex and multifaceted of European wars. I learned much from this book. Parker's treatment of the cultural context of the quasi-autonomous pre-war German states was particularly helpful.
But I read history for pleasure as well as for edification. As literature, The Thirty Years' War by Geoffrey Parker cannot compare with the brilliance of the earlier book of the same title by the great C.V. Wedgwood.
But I read history for pleasure as well as for edification. As literature, The Thirty Years' War by Geoffrey Parker cannot compare with the brilliance of the earlier book of the same title by the great C.V. Wedgwood.
October 24, 2017
Geoffrey Parker es una joya entre los hispanistas. No tardarán en darle el premio Princesa de Asturias. Aunque, como todos los hispanistas británicos, su visión suele ser parcial en lo que respecta al papel de Inglaterra en los siglos XVI y XVII.
June 30, 2021
Fantástico manual sobre un conflicto que asoló Europa y que tiene consecuencias hoy en día.
July 7, 2025
I guess 3 stars but it was really just ok. Compared to "The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy" it is very short and brief which can be a positive or negative. If I hadn't read the other book first I would have been very lost. So much happens and they just say what happens without explaining why and there is no battle analysis, which allows it to be short.
"The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy" breaks with convention in many ways but because it's so in depth it makes for a more compelling case.
This book does offer several interesting insights. The most interesting is after the peace of Prague half way through religion stops being the main source of alliances or wars. States instead seek their own benefit and don't care who they have to align with. Confessional alliances are no longer compelling. This is shocking since it points to the rise of the secular state that replaces religion as the main religion. Since the ancient conception of political bodies is that religion is the soul and binding and ordering idea of the political body. It makes sense why this happened due to the reformation but the consequences of this has been catastrophic as anyone who knows who knows anything about the 20th century. Which means Western Christianity hardly survives a hundred years before dying, by the French revolution intellectuals don't even believe in the Devil and by Nietzsche's time he observes God isn't just dead he has been completely replaced by atheism (read the Gay Science passage carefully and note the atheists in the town square).
The second is that the peace of Prague changes the nature of the conflict from a primarily religious war to a dynastic struggle of foreign powers inside the Empire. While the above mentioned book contends that it was a dynastic struggle from the beginning that used religious language to justify itself. Based on my extremely limited knowledge this books contention seems more plausible in this area at least.
One thing I liked about this book is it had better maps so I was easily able to find where Saxony, Brandenburg and Pomerania were at. And it clearly showed who benefited from the final peace which was confusing in the other book.
Ultimately this war is so complex everything seems like speculation, including the idea that this was a German disaster.
"The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy" breaks with convention in many ways but because it's so in depth it makes for a more compelling case.
This book does offer several interesting insights. The most interesting is after the peace of Prague half way through religion stops being the main source of alliances or wars. States instead seek their own benefit and don't care who they have to align with. Confessional alliances are no longer compelling. This is shocking since it points to the rise of the secular state that replaces religion as the main religion. Since the ancient conception of political bodies is that religion is the soul and binding and ordering idea of the political body. It makes sense why this happened due to the reformation but the consequences of this has been catastrophic as anyone who knows who knows anything about the 20th century. Which means Western Christianity hardly survives a hundred years before dying, by the French revolution intellectuals don't even believe in the Devil and by Nietzsche's time he observes God isn't just dead he has been completely replaced by atheism (read the Gay Science passage carefully and note the atheists in the town square).
The second is that the peace of Prague changes the nature of the conflict from a primarily religious war to a dynastic struggle of foreign powers inside the Empire. While the above mentioned book contends that it was a dynastic struggle from the beginning that used religious language to justify itself. Based on my extremely limited knowledge this books contention seems more plausible in this area at least.
One thing I liked about this book is it had better maps so I was easily able to find where Saxony, Brandenburg and Pomerania were at. And it clearly showed who benefited from the final peace which was confusing in the other book.
Ultimately this war is so complex everything seems like speculation, including the idea that this was a German disaster.
July 9, 2016
La Guerra de los Treinta Años es un conflicto que ha aparecido tangencialmente en varias de mis lecturas históricas pero del que desconocía practicamente todo. Y después de leer este libro veo que me estaba perdiendo mucho: un enfrentamiento que empezó siendo puramente alemán para evolucionar en una guerra que afectó a casi todas las naciones europeas de la época. Una guerra terrible, donde no era raro que príncipes y estados cambiaran de bando y en el que las victorias de un año no garantizaban que el ser derrotado casi totalmente al siguiente. Todo ello en medio de una devastación sin precendentes en Europa.
El libro comienza confesando su incapacidad de tratar en profundidad un conflicto tan vasto, y es cierto que en ocasiones se hecha de menos que se ahonde más en algunas partes de la contienda, así como su influencia en el resto de países (por ejemplo, la desaparición del "camino español"). Pero como visión general me ha resultado muy ameno e interesante, dejándome con ganas de saber más.
El libro comienza confesando su incapacidad de tratar en profundidad un conflicto tan vasto, y es cierto que en ocasiones se hecha de menos que se ahonde más en algunas partes de la contienda, así como su influencia en el resto de países (por ejemplo, la desaparición del "camino español"). Pero como visión general me ha resultado muy ameno e interesante, dejándome con ganas de saber más.
April 26, 2018
So much information is packed into so few pages with so little explanation that I became hopelessly lost. I have read massive tomes of history but this one, at a mere 160 pages, kicked my ass by page 40. I think I know even less about the Thirty Years War. Holy shit.
February 23, 2022
If you are looking for that "unputdownable" book on the Thirty Years' War (1618-48), my answer to you, as a high school history teacher who slogged through all 226 pages (not counting the huge amount of maps and notes) of Geoffrey Parker's" The Thirty Years' War", is to keep looking.
While the research on "The Thirty Years' War" is no doubt impressive (a team of 10 historians contributed to this book and we can only imagine how difficult it would be to sort through its primary documents), this is one of the densest books I have ever read. As a matter of fact, "DENSE" would be the one-word adjective to summarize the entire book. Some bright spots exist (good sections on inflation, soldiers of the time period, and I liked the visuals), but it is mostly a shallow maze of names, places, and statistics. I wish the authors tried much harder to present something more digestible. Can we explain the basics of the Holy Roman Empire? Calvinism? Denmark vs. Sweden's rivalry? More about famous people like Cardinal Richelieu or Gustavus Aldophus? There is very little about the big picture of it all and for most of the book it is one battle, principality of the Holy Roman Empire, or random peace agreement after another. I felt like I knew a fair amount coming into the book but even still it was very tough to follow. Perhaps the more recent versions are better; I read the 1987 version (second version).
The Thirty Years' War was a crucial chapter in European and world history. It started largely because of religion (dispute about the future of the Holy Roman Emperor being Catholic or Protestant in the later stages of the Protestant Reformation), but by the end it became an epic and mindless battle for territory and power. The peace agreement, the Peace of Westphalia, is often talked about in political science classes today about how borders need to be respected, balance of power is key, and that religion should not be fought over. The death and destruction in Central Europe was enormous and France's stock rose. It is a crucial conflict to learn about in the context of history. But in the end, even a saga like this needs a better storyteller.
While the research on "The Thirty Years' War" is no doubt impressive (a team of 10 historians contributed to this book and we can only imagine how difficult it would be to sort through its primary documents), this is one of the densest books I have ever read. As a matter of fact, "DENSE" would be the one-word adjective to summarize the entire book. Some bright spots exist (good sections on inflation, soldiers of the time period, and I liked the visuals), but it is mostly a shallow maze of names, places, and statistics. I wish the authors tried much harder to present something more digestible. Can we explain the basics of the Holy Roman Empire? Calvinism? Denmark vs. Sweden's rivalry? More about famous people like Cardinal Richelieu or Gustavus Aldophus? There is very little about the big picture of it all and for most of the book it is one battle, principality of the Holy Roman Empire, or random peace agreement after another. I felt like I knew a fair amount coming into the book but even still it was very tough to follow. Perhaps the more recent versions are better; I read the 1987 version (second version).
The Thirty Years' War was a crucial chapter in European and world history. It started largely because of religion (dispute about the future of the Holy Roman Emperor being Catholic or Protestant in the later stages of the Protestant Reformation), but by the end it became an epic and mindless battle for territory and power. The peace agreement, the Peace of Westphalia, is often talked about in political science classes today about how borders need to be respected, balance of power is key, and that religion should not be fought over. The death and destruction in Central Europe was enormous and France's stock rose. It is a crucial conflict to learn about in the context of history. But in the end, even a saga like this needs a better storyteller.
April 8, 2022
This is the clearest, most concise history of the Thirty Years War I've ever read. Other reviews have, in my opinion, evaluated this book by what it isn't. it's isn't long. (It's just 200 pages.) It isn't a military history. (Major battles might get a couple of sentences.) It isn't a narrative history. (Look to C.V. Wedgwood for that.) It isn't academic. (Although some might consider it so.)
Parker discusses dynastic issues, confessional issues, political realities, the diplomacy of the times and how it was conducted, the motivations of leaders and the constraints placed upon them and the economics of the participants. That's a lot of ground to cover and Parker does it in an engaging style. Although it is helpful sometimes to have a political map of the Holy Roman Empire at hand while reading, this is not a dry, academic history and the author takes the time to occasionally stop and regroup, acknowledging the complexity of the topic.
The last chapter of the book The War in Myth, Legend and History, is particularly good as it surveys various opinions about what the war was really all about. There's no consensus and Parker explains why. The bibliographical essay is also strong and worth reading.
If nothing else, this book gives a sense of the difficulty in truly understanding the war. As Parker writes, "Everywhere, the war increased paperwork." The staggering amount of documentation available, in a dozen (at least) languages, in every country in Europe discussing every facet of this long conflict makes its study both fascinating and daunting.
This is a book that, having finished it, I can see picking it up again to reread it to gain even more insight into this formative time in European history.
Parker discusses dynastic issues, confessional issues, political realities, the diplomacy of the times and how it was conducted, the motivations of leaders and the constraints placed upon them and the economics of the participants. That's a lot of ground to cover and Parker does it in an engaging style. Although it is helpful sometimes to have a political map of the Holy Roman Empire at hand while reading, this is not a dry, academic history and the author takes the time to occasionally stop and regroup, acknowledging the complexity of the topic.
The last chapter of the book The War in Myth, Legend and History, is particularly good as it surveys various opinions about what the war was really all about. There's no consensus and Parker explains why. The bibliographical essay is also strong and worth reading.
If nothing else, this book gives a sense of the difficulty in truly understanding the war. As Parker writes, "Everywhere, the war increased paperwork." The staggering amount of documentation available, in a dozen (at least) languages, in every country in Europe discussing every facet of this long conflict makes its study both fascinating and daunting.
This is a book that, having finished it, I can see picking it up again to reread it to gain even more insight into this formative time in European history.
October 13, 2018
Truly an amazing book and a must-read in early modern European history. I think it may be impossible to write a better history about the Thirty Years' War under less than 230 pages.
Pros
- Very fun to read, a quite exceptional history book
- Extremely short, for a book which explains a very complex and long event
- Events are given within the context of aims and results, and from both perspectives of the war
- Detailed statistics on troop numbers and money
- Spends very little time on battles (troop formations, tactics etc.), but yes this might be a negative point if you are interested in these.
- An awesome timeline which is divided by region, AND important events are given in capital letters
- Lots of citations, a recommended reading section, and an index are available.
Cons
- Can be hard to follow who is who, since lots of historical characters are involved: an 'important characters' section alongside the timeline would be superb (but maybe I'm just pushing it at this point).
- It would be nice if they spent more time on the Peace of Westphalia.
Pros
- Very fun to read, a quite exceptional history book
- Extremely short, for a book which explains a very complex and long event
- Events are given within the context of aims and results, and from both perspectives of the war
- Detailed statistics on troop numbers and money
- Spends very little time on battles (troop formations, tactics etc.), but yes this might be a negative point if you are interested in these.
- An awesome timeline which is divided by region, AND important events are given in capital letters
- Lots of citations, a recommended reading section, and an index are available.
Cons
- Can be hard to follow who is who, since lots of historical characters are involved: an 'important characters' section alongside the timeline would be superb (but maybe I'm just pushing it at this point).
- It would be nice if they spent more time on the Peace of Westphalia.
December 23, 2018
3.5 stars I just finished an overview history of the Baltic that I loved. This was an overview book on the 30 Years War, but not as good. It was a little dated, being published in 1984. In this case, trying to cover 30 years of warfare in 226 pages was just not enough. And I can't stress enough how important it is to have maps in the middle of the book, not at the end. Still, a good book for a quick overview of the war.
November 29, 2017
La Guerra de los Treinta Años fue el gran conflicto del siglo XVII. Geoffrey Parker estudia el conflicto desde la génesis y el problema religioso inicial, la relación del Emperador y las interferencias de las potencias como España, Suecia o Francia. Bien documentado, escrito de forma amena pero no por ello sin rigor histórico. Una obra recomendable.
July 30, 2021
Third of three books about the thirty years war I read recently. The best was Parker's Global Crisis.
This was interesting in that it was like an anthology - different authors writing about different events. But this made the book a bit of an uneven read, as some were definitely better writers than others.
The biggest flaw is that the book is largely a litany of dates and battles
This was interesting in that it was like an anthology - different authors writing about different events. But this made the book a bit of an uneven read, as some were definitely better writers than others.
The biggest flaw is that the book is largely a litany of dates and battles
November 24, 2025
A genuine middle of the road three stars for me. I went in not knowing anything about the Thirty Years’ War and came out with some knowledge, but still not much of an understanding of the conflict. The book felt expansive and too short at the same time, which I suppose makes sense given the length of the war. Nevertheless a well-written book with some good use.
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July 24, 2021Best book on the subject I've read. That said, it's an impossible complex subject, and you can't just jump in, you need some background to get much out of it. Perhaps an introductory chapter an a less-academic map would have helped. I recommend it.
December 26, 2025
Una de las mejores historias de la guerra a pesar de que tenga ya unos años. Condensa toda su complejidad en poco espacio y cuenta con una muy buena bibliografía para ampliar los temas que trata superficialmente.
February 13, 2025
Está claro que a Historia Moderna non é o meu forte. Lino para un traballo de clase, el trauma de mi vida.
June 22, 2016
It is very hard to write about the Thirty Years War in a way conducive to entrance a modern reader who is not a specialist. This is for obvious reasons - the conflict spanned, yes, 30 years, and the seeds for the conflict go back deep into the 16th century. The number of players (monarchs, "prime ministers", generals) is large and they often have the same names. You need a reasonable understanding of central European geography so you can fix in place where Styria is in relationshp to Bohemia, or Hesse-Kassel in relationship to Mecklenberg without frequent resorting to maps.
So, why the renewed interest? Well, many commentators have pointed out that Europe resolved its religious conflict during the Thirty Years War whereas the modern Arab world still fights a centuries old Shia - Sunni doctrinal dispute. So, it might be nice to understand more about the details of how Europe broke out of its confessional animus.
So, why Parker's book?
I have several books on The Thirty Years War
"The Thirty Years War" by Peter Wilson (the most recently written)
"The Thirty Years War" by Herbert Langer (translated from the German)
"Battles of the Thirty Years War" by William Gutrie
and many years ago I read "The Thirty Years War" by C.V. Wedgewood.
Wilson's book is massive and the pace moves too slowly - many many pages are written on the succession crisis in the duchy of Jülich-Cleves, one of the matches that set off the Thirty Years War. Who (at least an American) even knows where Jülich-Cleves is? Anyway, after wading through 100+ pages before anyone even got defenestrated, my eyes could not go on. So, I switched to Parker as he covered the Thirty Years War in <225 pages. Parker is polyglot (essential to reading the source documents) and had contributors who aided him on subjects where he wasn't conversant with the language (the Danish intervention for example).
So, what do you get?
A reasonably readable account of the conditions leading to the war (many characters who come and go and the doctrinal disputes between Lutherans, Calvinists, and Catholics although crystal clear to the participants of the time, are somewhat less clear today to any reader not well-versed in theology (like me).
Parker then breaks the war down into its phases, generally the 1620s, the 1630s, and then the 1640s. Then, there is a wrap up chapter on the war's effect on society and culture with a bit on the military revolution.
Because the war lasted so long, and the politics were complicated, and the book is only 225 pages long, Parker opts not to give much color to any of the leaders. This is not a book where one can learn much of anything about the personal lives, peccadilloes, or even appearances of the Electors, Kings, Emperors, or cunning counselors. The book does not even come close to pretending to be a pot boiler. Landscapes are not luridly described, battles are mere sentences, and human tragedy is scarcely mentioned (e.g. Sack of Madgeburg). It is not a military history book.
One has a hard time putting oneself in place at the time, what life was like for the peasantry, the merchants, or even the court. Key figures like Wallenstein are barely fleshed out. The book is not history written for the lay reader 'a la Stephen Ambrose or Erik Larson. Instead, it is a survey of a complicated set of politics and how those political aims were achieved (or not) via military means. Economics clearly had an influence as countries bankrupted themselves financing armies thus forcing alliances in order to stay afloat.
At the end, the reader gets a good sense that state political aims won out over merely confessional labels. The modern nation state began to arise.
One also gets an excellent discussion of sources for further exploration. The maps were usable and helped place principalities, regions, towns and battles in geographic relationship to each other. There are some interesting plates of important contemporary documents and images.
But, for my money, if you want a book length treatment of the Thirty Years War, this is the best I've seen.
So, why the renewed interest? Well, many commentators have pointed out that Europe resolved its religious conflict during the Thirty Years War whereas the modern Arab world still fights a centuries old Shia - Sunni doctrinal dispute. So, it might be nice to understand more about the details of how Europe broke out of its confessional animus.
So, why Parker's book?
I have several books on The Thirty Years War
"The Thirty Years War" by Peter Wilson (the most recently written)
"The Thirty Years War" by Herbert Langer (translated from the German)
"Battles of the Thirty Years War" by William Gutrie
and many years ago I read "The Thirty Years War" by C.V. Wedgewood.
Wilson's book is massive and the pace moves too slowly - many many pages are written on the succession crisis in the duchy of Jülich-Cleves, one of the matches that set off the Thirty Years War. Who (at least an American) even knows where Jülich-Cleves is? Anyway, after wading through 100+ pages before anyone even got defenestrated, my eyes could not go on. So, I switched to Parker as he covered the Thirty Years War in <225 pages. Parker is polyglot (essential to reading the source documents) and had contributors who aided him on subjects where he wasn't conversant with the language (the Danish intervention for example).
So, what do you get?
A reasonably readable account of the conditions leading to the war (many characters who come and go and the doctrinal disputes between Lutherans, Calvinists, and Catholics although crystal clear to the participants of the time, are somewhat less clear today to any reader not well-versed in theology (like me).
Parker then breaks the war down into its phases, generally the 1620s, the 1630s, and then the 1640s. Then, there is a wrap up chapter on the war's effect on society and culture with a bit on the military revolution.
Because the war lasted so long, and the politics were complicated, and the book is only 225 pages long, Parker opts not to give much color to any of the leaders. This is not a book where one can learn much of anything about the personal lives, peccadilloes, or even appearances of the Electors, Kings, Emperors, or cunning counselors. The book does not even come close to pretending to be a pot boiler. Landscapes are not luridly described, battles are mere sentences, and human tragedy is scarcely mentioned (e.g. Sack of Madgeburg). It is not a military history book.
One has a hard time putting oneself in place at the time, what life was like for the peasantry, the merchants, or even the court. Key figures like Wallenstein are barely fleshed out. The book is not history written for the lay reader 'a la Stephen Ambrose or Erik Larson. Instead, it is a survey of a complicated set of politics and how those political aims were achieved (or not) via military means. Economics clearly had an influence as countries bankrupted themselves financing armies thus forcing alliances in order to stay afloat.
At the end, the reader gets a good sense that state political aims won out over merely confessional labels. The modern nation state began to arise.
One also gets an excellent discussion of sources for further exploration. The maps were usable and helped place principalities, regions, towns and battles in geographic relationship to each other. There are some interesting plates of important contemporary documents and images.
But, for my money, if you want a book length treatment of the Thirty Years War, this is the best I've seen.
September 1, 2013
The Thirty Years' War is an immensely complex subject. Not only does it take place over a long period of time, but the issues that resulted in, and then carried the conflict to its conclusion, are labyrinthine, to say the least. Additionally, the personalities of the war change frequently, as almost all of the major figures present at the beginning of the war were dead by the end, and even the combatants changed from year to year.
That said, this book did very little to increase my understanding of the conflict. The prose is nothing special, but it's also not very illuminating. Occasionally, sentences followed seemingly unrelated sentences. I was baffled. Additionally, the compact text goes into heavy detail in some issues, yet leaves others barely resolved. I felt lost a lot of the time.
That said, this book did very little to increase my understanding of the conflict. The prose is nothing special, but it's also not very illuminating. Occasionally, sentences followed seemingly unrelated sentences. I was baffled. Additionally, the compact text goes into heavy detail in some issues, yet leaves others barely resolved. I felt lost a lot of the time.
May 17, 2016
Tras leer el libro me queda la impresión de que en ésta guerra comenzó dilucidándose si el Imperio sería católico o protestante y terminó decidiéndose qué potencias dominarían Europa en el siglo siguiente. España, que entró en el conflicto apoyando al emperador, acabó derrotada por Francia y los Países Bajos, sufriendo revueltas en Cataluña y Portugal, y diplomáticamente aislada de los Habsburgo austríacos. Fue el inicio del declive de la potencia ibérica.
August 26, 2009
Nicely readable overview of the depth and scope of the Thirty Years War. Heavy on the military history, naturally enough, but covered the major and many minor players well enough along with the shifting alliances and boundaries that were being fought over. Land, politics and religion, what else is there?
June 17, 2013
Great detail about the maneuverings of the politicians and nations leading up and through the war. Not a lot of detail until the final 30 pages on the impact, what it was like for civilians, specific anecdotes of warfare and all the tidbits that would make this book interesting. I'm sure there's better books about the Thirty Years' War.
June 28, 2014
Not a fascinating, draw-you-in, kind of book. Now that doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement, does it? But I really did enjoy it. The topic is very complicated and seemed so at first, but it became much clearer as the book progressed.
May 1, 2018
This is a decent introductory book on the war. Because it's not a overly large book, it doesn't cover anything in a lot of detail. It suffers from only having 3 strategic level maps and they hardly show that many locations.
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